Author: kdk ★2017
Date: 2014-10-31 20:41
I guess we're lucky in the Philadelphia area to have had, at least for the last several decades, excellent repair people from Hans Moennig himself down to a handful of expert craftsmen today. So I'm used to never having to send my instruments anywhere to get excellent work.
There are more problems than you've run into with shipping work away to a shop and technician you don't know. One is that damage can happen to the clarinet in transit. I once - and only once (the reason is a long, separate story) - sent a clarinet from Philadelphia to Morrie Backun in British Columbia. By the time it reached him there was a crack in the instrument that I know hadn't been there when I sent it. It was a relatively new "rosewood" instrument and I suppose the temperature and humidity changes on the way caused the wood to swell and contract too much. Morrie did an excellent job on the clarinet, and when I got the instrument back from him it played superbly, but he had to do work to repair the crack that (probably) wouldn't have been needed had I had it worked on locally.
Another problem is that there is much in an "overhaul" involving adjustments that are quite personal to the player. If I'm sitting in the shop with the repairman, he can ask me what I want. He may recommend something else, and then I make the choice.
I have to ask, though, specific to your post, what you mean exactly by "notes stopping up." Were the tone holes filling with water? Were the pads sticking to their seats when you tried to open them? Were ranges of notes getting stuffy and unresponsive?
Karl
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The Clarinet BBoard
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